Impact of youth football coach still felt in retirement

At Sarasota High’s inaugural Hall of Fame induction ceremony Sept. 27, Tim Johnson, the former Washington Redskins linebacker who attended Penn State University and won both a Super Bowl and an NCAA National Championship during his career, made sure to devote a few minutes of his speech to the man he called “the best coach I’ve ever had.”

That man was in attendance. It wasn’t Joe Gibbs or any of the NFL coaches Johnson had. It wasn’t anyone from Penn State, either. It was John Patella, who coached Johnson in the Sarasota Ringling Redskins youth football league.

Johnson played for Patella’s Mohicans team. I know this not because Johnson said so in his speech, but because the Mohicans were the only team Patella coached in his time with the Ringling Redskins. He first joined the league in 1965, on the Saturday after Labor Day, when he moved to Sarasota from Wilmerding, Pa., just outside of Pittsburgh. Patella was a mailman by day, one of three serving his hometown. He was a youth coach there, too, from 1956 until the day he moved here. Patella coached the Mohicans for 41 years, 40 as a head coach, before retiring after the 2005 season. He had already been retired from the post office for 23 years at that point. He didn't coach because he needed income. In fact, he never made a dime from it. He coached because it's how he thought he could make a difference. 

“I just wanted to give kids something to do,” Patella, who turned 90 this year, said. “I wanted to teach kids discipline. We took kids off the streets, good kids.”

Patella and I sat and talked Oct. 19 at Panera Bread on University Parkway. After hearing Johnson’s speech, I had to know more about the local legend. It couldn’t have been a more innocuous setting, but Patella was hesitant to tell me about his accomplishments. He hung his head and laughed before admitting he’s a member of three Halls of Fame:  The Dick Vitale Sports Night Hall, the American Football Association Hall and the East Boros chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall. He twirls his semi-pro football national championship ring around his finger, staring at it and trying to conceal a smile, saying nothing while saying everything. Perhaps the most amazing Patella fact: In his 50 years on the sidelines, picking players by walking around Newtown and selecting the first kids to run to him asking to play, he never had a losing season.

Johnson isn’t the only former Patella player putting him on a pedestal. Sarasota High head football coach Brian Ryals played for him in 1985. The Mohicans won the championship that year, Ryals said, going undefeated. Ryals describes Patella as a Bobby Bowden-esque coach, one who saw his players as family members as much as athletes.

“For whatever reason, we had a quick connection, and he believed in me,” Ryals said. “He drew plays just for me, certain things for me to do. The most remarkable thing about it is to this day, Coach remembers every single play of every game.”  

Patella attends every Sarasota High football game, and has for decades, now with three generations of Patellas next to him: His son Perry, grandson Jon and great-granddaughter Julietta. Ryals said Patella isn’t afraid to give suggestions to the Sailors afterwards, because he will always be a coach at heart. They aren’t bad suggestions either, Ryals added. 

There are others, too. Patella’s tutelage, whether directly or indirectly, helped dozens of players reach the college and NFL ranks. Patella doesn’t know the exact number. He knows that two, Johnson and cornerback Sam Shields, have won Super Bowl rings. Herb Haygood was drafted as a wide receiver by the Denver Broncos, and now coaches wide receivers at Eastern Michigan University.

In Patellas absence, the Ringling Redskins league has undergone changes. It’s now known as Sarasota Youth Caloosa Football, with teams called the Sarasota Redskins regardless of age level. The organization relies on donations, and with fewer parents willing to send their kids into football out of injury fear, the league has fewer resources to put toward pads, scholarships, etc. The league has downsized, but its headquarters and field still carry the same name: the John Patella Sports Complex.

There is one thing he's most proud of, Patella eventually said. It’s something Ryals exemplified in my chat with him as well. Whenever Patella sees former players around town, they always shake his hand and call him “Coach.”

“That's what makes me feel good,” he said.